Daph Stats: 21 Months

Old pictures from our November Christmas card pictures that I've been meaning to post.

My Dearest Daphne,

You are such a big girl these days!  I can't believe how much you've developed in the past 3 months.  I just went back and read my letter to you at 18 months and I was shocked to realize you were barely putting together two words at a time in December.  You are a verbal whirlwind these days!  You parrot everything we say, which is scary when I don't think you are listening and I suddenly hear you say the exact words with the exact vocal inflection that just came out of my mouth.  A funny example of this was when we drove to Logan for Grandma Bush's funeral last month.  I was talking to Cassie and Dan in the car and said, "Dangit" somewhere in my sentence when suddenly you chirped out from your carseat, "Dangit! Dang-IT.  DANG-it."  It was like you had to play around with the word on your tongue, trying out all the different variations of pronunciation.

Daphne mimicking peek-a-boo with Brinlee and Hudson who were trying to make her smile for the pictures - again, a few months old.

You say the prayer for us several times a day (with help of course) and every time we get to "In the name..." you jump forward and give an enthusiastic "AMEN!"  I have to help you go back and repeat, "...of Jesus Christ, Amen", but usually you're so excited to eat by that time that it's about all you can handle to get those 3 extra words together.  When we kneel down in your nursery for bedtime prayers, you always get so annoyed when Burke kneels up straight and tall and will stand up to give him a two-handed push to the belly to make him get lower by rocking back onto his heels.  We can't figure out why that bugs you so bad, but you watch him like a hawk every night to make sure he doesn't get back in the upright kneeling position.

For about a month now you have been counting to 10.  For the first few days you would always say, "...four, five, chicken, seven..." It was pretty hilarious, but now you've changed to repeating, "four, five, six" whenever you get to the number 7.  And without fail, whenever you get to number 10 you scream out the final number with enthusiasm and put all 10 fingers high in the air.  It's pretty adorable.  You can sing your ABC's and recognize a few of the letters.  I try to take some time each day to sit you on my lap and practice our letters with the little white board.  I will draw a letter and have you repeat the name and sound and then we draw words that start with that letter.  Your favorite part of this game is erasing whatever I draw, often before I even finish the picture.  I'm sure it will take us a while to get the alphabet down, but I'm not worried about it, you are such a sponge and so attentive that I'm sure you'll get it down sooner or later.

One of your favorite things to say is 'LOOK!', but you rarely just say it.  It's almost always a yell to get my attention, "MAMA! LOOOOOOK!"  It's pretty cute, but it also makes it really hard to get anything done when you're awake.  You love to have me watch no matter what you're doing.  As the whether has been getting so beautiful, I often leave the back door open so you can come and go to play in the sandbox or go down the slide while I'm getting meals ready.  However, you aren't content doing these things without an audience and I have to come to the door over and over again before you stop calling my name to watch yet another ride down the slide or a pile of dirt you've put on the sidewalk - always something tremendously exciting to you. :)  I find I don't mind the interruptions as it makes you so proud to show me whatever you're working on.

At the end of January we checked out "Baby Signing Time" videos from the library.  You had been using the signs for "more", "please", "eat" and "all done" since you were about a year old, but I was curious to see if you could pick up on any more.  After two times through the video, you had all of the signs down!  You can now sign about 60 words and you are eager to learn more.  You will often come up and sign, "Baby" (swinging your arms back and forth like you're rocking a baby) "Signing" (moving fingers around in a circular motion) "Time?" (pointing to your wrist) while saying the words simultaneously.  I am always amazed at how much more you are capable of than I give you credit for.

Happy Little Lady

If it were up to you, you would watch some kind of media several times a day, but I'm a stickler.  I'm anti-TV (if fact, we don't even have TV) and I only let you watch about 15 minutes a day of the Baby Signing Time or other educational videos.  After all the studies they showed us in my education classes at college on how many learning disabilities are linked to over-excessive media usage, I just can't bring myself to let you sit down in front of a screen.  You love to sneak Daddy's phone or crawl up onto our laps if we are on the computer and I know you would love more "shows", but I'm trying hard to limit screen time.  I guess we'll see if/how that changes when another baby gets added to the mix down the road.

Little Helper

You love to help with whatever I am doing and will often pull the step ladder out of the pantry so you can throw ingredients into the blender or watch me while I cook.  You love to get into my makeup (I think you've destroyed 4 chapsticks and 1 lipstick) and pretend to put on your own while I am getting ready for the day.  You push your toy vacuum around when I am doing chores and spray Windex on the mirrors/windows to smear all over with your own cloth.

Just in the past couple of weeks you have started singing up a storm.  Your favorite songs are "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," and "I Love To See The Temple", but you have a list of about twenty nursery-type songs and lullabies that you request on a regular basis.  I love seeing you do the actions, but I adore hearing your little voice even more!  It's so precious to me when you ask, "Sing Temple? I go der sum day"?

Whenever I put you down for a nap, I always sing a song as I tuck you in and then say, "I love you baby, sleep so well."  About 2 weeks ago, I was stroking your face saying, "I love you baby" when you interjected, "Love you baby" in the most tender little voice.  You had never said 'I love you' before that and it made me cry.  Now every time I am leaving your nursery you call out, "Love you Mama".  Melts my heart every time.

Some of your other favorite things right now are tubby time, coloring, reading, riding around on your scuttlebug, drawing on your magna doodle, playing in the sandbox, being with other kids, Mickey Mouse, Elmo, singing songs together, dancing to music, playing with blocks and running, running, running all over the house!

You make Daddy and I laugh all the time and we miss you almost as soon as we put you to bed each night.  I am so grateful that I get to be your Mama!  Thanks for being our darling baby girl!

Love you forever and always,

Your Mama